Located near Sasuntsi Davit cinema in Yerevan, Gourgen Misakyan's photo studio was once known as one of the best photo ateliers in the city. The photographer received his higher education at Moscow’s Cinema Institute (VGIK) as a cinematographer. However, after returning to Yerevan in 1949, Misakyan decided to dedicate himself to photography instead. (1)

His background in cinematography, nevertheless, left an undeniable stamp on Misakyan’s photographic style. When it came to photographing personalities of film and art, the photographer made an effort to turn them into vividly delineated characters who often appear to be taking part in some dramatic or comedic narrative. Many of the artists photographed by him, including Hrachya Nersisyan, Ohan Duryan, Arno Babadjanyan, Vardan Atchemyan, Tatevik Sazandaryan and others, come across in his images not as glamorous cultural icons, but as intellectuals. These portraits can safely be regarded as some of the more refined examples of ‘classical’ studio portraiture in the history of Soviet-Armenian photography. Reprinted in books and the local press or distributed as postcards, quite a few of them have been widely disseminated in Armenia, and some have even won awards at various all–union photography exhibitions during the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1974, Misakyan moved his studio to 29 Movses Khorenatsi Street, where he continued to work behind the camera and the darkroom until the late 1980s. His sons, Ara and Hakob Misakyans, assisted their father for a long time and continued to operate the studio after Gourgen's death.

1) Biographical details are based on Hakob Misakyan’s testimony and have been sourced from Vahan Kochar, Hay Lusankarichner [Armenian Photographers, in Armenian], self-published, Yerevan, 2007, pp.246-249

Vigen Galstyan, 2016